Rapporteur Has Vote Ready on Lula’s Appeal in Atibaia Ranch Case

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The rapporteur for Operation Lava Jato in the 4th Federal Regional Court, João Pedro Gebran Neto, has already finalized his vote on the appeal of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other defendants in the Atibaia ranch lawsuit.

Gebran has forwarded the case file under review by the eighth panel of TRF4 – which analyzes the Curitiba Lava Jato’s rulings – to the office of revisor judge Leandro Paulsen, who will schedule the hearing of the former president and other defendants.

As a result, the leftist is closer to a new trial decision by the appellate court.

He is currently serving a sentence of eight years, ten months and 20 days in the Triplex case, ratified by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ).

Lula was sentenced by federal district Judge Gabriela Hardt, in February, to a 12-year and 11-month prison term for corruption and money laundering in the works commissioned by Odebrecht and OAS on rural land.

Lula appealed the decision and asked for an acquittal. Lava Jato also appealed. In an opinion on the appeals, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office which acts in 4th Region appellate cases opined that the former president’s sentence should be increased.

In her ruling, Hardt considered that the sum of R$1 million used by OAS and Odebrecht in the Santa Bárbara site were bribes to the former president’s benefit. She points out that the denunciation provided by Operation Lava Jato recounts the “renovation and decoration of facilities and refurbishments” that had been carried out to the benefit of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his family.